“Teenage Witch”

John Maus’ upcoming album, Screen Memories, burrows into the retro-futuristic tones of analog synth technology; the squat cathode ray tube TV on the cover of the album, blasting static, only reinforces the 1970s and 1980s palette sampled within. His new song offered from it, “Teenage Witch,” is nostalgic without being overly sentimental, suggesting a tender side to Maus as he excavates his teenage self.

Maus isn’t the first artist to look to teen memories, but for one who’s traditionally been poised to the point of detachment, “Teenage Witch” narrows the focus to a striking degree. He sings into curtains of reverb about, presumably, his past: “Teenage witch/Want to start a fire witch,” he intones, hinting at the rage of stifling high school years. He’s accompanied by a rickety synth bassline so artificially cheery it might have been borrowed from his past collaborator Ariel Pink. This contrast between the song’s light, retro instrumentation and its sinister lyrics makes for a sharp portrait of the teen psyche. For Maus, it’s a time where innocence and all-consuming anger can mingle in the same hormone-addled brain. “Teenage Witch” distills those distant memories into soft, vintage pop where violence lurks just beneath the surface.